


Ghost

by Pas_dAutres



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Kairi & Riku & Sora Friendship (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 11:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20723834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pas_dAutres/pseuds/Pas_dAutres
Summary: Sometimes, they come here to watch the sunset. Sometimes they take a quick refreshing swim before heading back to town. Sometimes they sit in comfortable silence and watch the waves roll inland, and those times are when Riku can’t help but feel the most lonely.Kairi asks if he feels it too. “This thing inside telling me that I’ve forgotten something. Telling me I’m not done, that there’s still something I need to finish.”He does feel it, hehearsit. He hears him calling out--one more time.





	Ghost

_I want you all, before I lose you_  
_I know you will leave me._  
_You are a ghost now, I didn’t dream it_  
_I know you will haunt me_

_I see you left_   
_Just like you came_   
_Facing the crowd--fading_

\---

He opens the door before the next knock comes. After years of traversing between Light and Darkness, he’s become accustomed to the pull when a presence is near.

Riku smiles down at the girl with large brown curls. “Hey Selphie.”

“Freaky Riku, it’s like you knew I was coming.”

He shrugged. “What’s up?”

Selphie bit her lip into a frown. “Kairi’s...on the island again. She went there after we met up for lunch and well...”

And it’s almost nighttime. Riku looks past the hill that just barely covers the setting sun. He should know by now that the night sky doesn’t mean darkness, but there’s still a nagging feeling. Whether if it’s from his adventures or inherent nature, he’s always been the wary one out of the two.

“I’ll go get her back,” he assures Selphie. “Not sure why she’s always there nowadays.”

He does know...and doesn’t. Destiny Islands has always been a place of obscurity for Riku. It’s where he had once fell into Darkness, where he’d caused Kairi’s heart to be lost, and where he’d awoken to once he found his way back to the Realm of Light. It now lies as a place of strange discomfort and unwanted reminiscence. Riku avoids the islands more than he’d like to admit.

Kairi thrives in it. She claims she finds a calm upon the place, as if her heart won’t settle unless she’s planted her bare feet in the dense, hot sands.

“It gives me relief and a good kind of wanting,” she had tried to explain.

He finds her sitting on the wayward Paopu tree, its trunk dipping low just enough for the two of them to hop on with ease. It’s their spot--Riku and Kairi’s. No one, not even Roxas or Namine, dares to claim it. Sometimes, they come here to watch the sunset. Sometimes they take a quick refreshing swim before heading back to town. Sometimes they sit in comfortable silence and watch the waves roll inland, and those times are when Riku can’t help but feel the most lonely.

Kairi acknowledges his presence by moving down a bit, giving him space to lie on the tree. The sun’s set and the night sky has come to full play. It still amazes Riku at just how many worlds are out there, circling around their own sun and stars. His adventures during the past three years surely haven’t covered even ten percent of the whole universe.

“One sky, one destiny.”

Riku glances at Kairi, who’s looking up wistfully.

“These words keep repeating in my head,” she says. “Like it’s refusing go away.”

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, where did you hear it from?”

“That’s the thing--I don’t know.” Kairi dips her head sideways, giving him a most forlorn look. There is pain in her blue eyes and it drowns him in helplessness. “I don’t know, Riku. I don’t know where any of this is coming from.”

The ghost of a whimper at the end of her sentence compels him to hug her, wrapping his arms tightly around the red-haired girl who’s so, so strong yet so vulnerable. As a Guardian of Light and Keyblade Master, Riku has long sworn to protect not only a Princess of Light but his best friend since childhood.

“Do you feel it too?” she asked. “This thing inside telling me that I’ve forgotten something. Telling me I’m not done, that there’s still something I need to finish.”

Riku nods. It’s a lonely feeling, because he has no idea of what he’s supposed to do. This feeling latches onto him--it nags him, feeds off of him, sometimes empties him into a shell of wandering thoughts. It makes him feel lost, in--

“--incomplete.”

Riku blinks. “Sorry?”

“It’s like I’m incomplete in some way. Like a part of me is out there, somewhere.”

“Out there in the sky?”

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“You know I’m not,” he says with a slight squeeze of his arms in reassurance. “You’re always the one who voices it better than I ever can.”

Kairi relaxes and lays her head on his shoulder, facing the ocean again. The lull of the ocean giving them a stolen moment of peace and quiet. Ever since they’ve returned from their journey, it’s been training here and missions there. These days are the rare times when Kairi and him had the chance to return home.

Now that Master Xehanort has finally been put to rest, it’s up to Riku and the other Masters to ensure Order is in place in every world. King Mickey has been putting him on intergalactic duty along with Roxas and Axel. Kairi’s been assigned the mission to have Namine and Xion settled in Radiant Garden, apprenticing under Ansem the Wise to learn more about the heart. Riku doesn’t like it one bit, for he knows just how easy it is to fall into obsession; but who is he to change Kairi’s stubborn mind?

“The worlds are at peace.”

“Yep.”

“Darkness has been vanquished.”

“Balanced.”

“Right, balanced out. And everyone’s back safe and sound.”

“Just so.”

“Then what are we missing, Riku?”

The words flowed out of his mouth before he can realize it.

“A ghost.”

\---

“Riku, one more time!”

The boy stretches his arm towards him and Riku’s eyes focus in on the hand in front, except it is only a shadow of a limb. Black pools around the shape of his palm and gnarls around the fingers like runaway tendrils refusing to leave its host.

He quickly looks up and it’s a ghost--an empty boy who lost all there is to him save for the two glowing eyes staring back. Riku pulls away but the darkness catches his wrist, locking him, pulling him in.

“One...more...time...”

\---

The shrill ring from his gummiphone woke him up before he could even begin to recall what his dream (nightmare?) was about. His thumb misses the ‘Accept’ button a few times, unaware of how shaken he is. Whatever it had been, it’d hit close to home.

“Yeah?”

Namine’s face pops up on the screen. “Hey Riku, it’s Namine here.”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“It’s been going well, thank you for asking. We’ve made pretty good progress on the replica studies.”

Riku hears Xion being snarky in the background--something about all work and no play. He smiles, glad that the girls are getting along so well.

Namine’s soft voice becomes hushed. “It’s just...I just got a weird feeling. Something bad and it’s pulling at my heart.”

“Are you okay? Did you tell Ansem the Wise about it?”

“It’s not me. I think it’s Kairi.”

The gummiphone is instantly put on speaker as Riku reprograms his gummiship to a new destination. There’s no doubt that Namine and Kairi share a special connection. Where their intuition is concerned, Riku doesn’t question.

“Heading back home now. Don’t worry too much about it, okay?”

“Alright.”

“And Namine?” He makes sure to look at the screen. “Thank you for letting me know.”

A dust of pink appears across her cheeks as Namine chuckles. “It’s nice to be thanked.”

It’s not in Riku’s blood to take lightly to strangers, not as easily as Kairi does. She can go straight up to someone, introduce herself, suggests to be friends and, voila--a new friendship will be formed.

But not with this man, Riku thinks when he arrives at Destiny Islands and immediately spots a pink-haired figure with her. Not when they’re walking in the direction of their Secret Place. Before the gummiship stabilizes itself above sea, Riku takes a big leap and hurdles inland from the beach. He catches the man in all black leather and wild pink hair at the entrance of their cave, his keyblade already materialized.

“Hey!”

“It is time,” is all that the stranger let out before he vanishes into thin air.

Riku stops short before rushing into the cave. His heart is a heavy weight, pounding against his chest. It knows that something is wrong, so very very wrong. Kairi is in there and there’s not a second to waste.

When the long winding path opens up to an enclosure, the boy calls out in panic to his best friend, who just so happens to open a never-before-seen door.

Wrong.

Riku’s seen it before, when he first opened it himself.

One-two-three steps and there is time to pull Kairi into his arms but not enough for the both of them to get out of harm’s way. The only thing he can do is to shield her from whatever is hitting them. For Riku cannot move. He cannot see, cannot summon his keyblade, cannot even harness Darkness to push away this force that’s engulfing them. It pushes and pulls them, binding the two in one place. He feels strong winds lashing around them yet they are not swayed to fall. Better yet, Riku doesn’t feel the biting cold that one would expect from contact with the Darkness.

Riku feels...warm.

Warm to the head.

A little fuzzy, really, like little pins rising up and down to massage his head.

He opens his eyes. Then closes them in confusion. He doesn’t know the difference as he sees nothing.

Nothing...

and then, Everything.

\---

“Do you hear me?”

Kairi usually doesn’t evaluate the other party before passing her name as a greeting, always down to make new friends. _I’m Kairi_, she’d start, _and this is Riku_. So trusting, is she--so utterly, wholeheartedly, trusting.

“Riku...Riku--do you see me?”

She has this uplifting tone in her voice. A sort of a bright sunshine for she believes in the good of everyone and wherever there is existence, there is an opportunity to radiate light.

Sounds awfully familiar, similar to this one.

“Can you find me?”

The boy isn’t just a shadow of a ghost anymore. He isn’t engulfed in black with two glowing yellow eyes. He has soft brown hair and tenacious blue eyes and a dazzling grin to boot.

His name is--

\---

“Sora.”

Riku opens his eyes to the sky above. Sora’s eyes are a tad bit darker--deep as the ocean blue yet not quite as stormy.

His heart lurches at the name. Sora. It’s like a weight has been dropped, no longer yanking at his heart but instead filling it. There’s no more uncertainty, of lacking and doubt. He knows what’s out there and what he must do now.

“I can feel him,” Kairi continues on, with a hand palmed against her chest, ”in here.”

“Now he just needs to be here. But how are supposed to find him?”

Kairi lets out a soft giggle. “That’s easy--how you’ve always found him.” She does the same thing as Riku had once done when Sora asked him a question: pointing the simple answer to his chest where his beating heart lies. “May your heart be your guiding key.”

Of course, how can he forget?

His heart is connected to Sora. They all are. And more and more so, Riku can feel Sora’s warmth calling to him, loud and bright and obnoxiously refusing to be ignored.

_Yes Sora, I can hear you just fine._

\---

His heart guides him to a unknown corner, dark and grimy and almost too much like a once-upon place he had set foot in when he searched for Sora the first time. The world is different--it plays by a different game with different rules and different sets of eyes watching your every move. Time is bound through your actions, forced upon by mysterious reapers whom, by no rationale but the rule book, holds power over your judgment of life and death.

But Riku advances on for no matter how different the way of this world works, or the consequences that he must endure, or farther he gets than being one step closer because the rules of this world are just so damn _frustrating_, he can feel the faint glow that is Sora staying alive in his heart. Faint, but growing strong.

The sky never lights up, covered by a limitless sheet of thick clouds threatening to either cast rain or dry thunder. Shadows begin to meld together--buildings look like monsters and shadows look like a boy lost and waiting to be found. Riku loses count of his ticking clock and loses sight of his direction, having ran through alleys upon alleys of narrow corners and twisted paths. Everything looks the same and an unstoppable helplessness starts to linger and Sora--

_Sora, Sora please - where are you?_

He would’ve jumped over a dark object if it were not for the tug in his heart, one that he hasn’t felt in very long time.

Riku whips around, keyblade forming in his hand. It glows a faint purple, guiding him towards the figure. It’s drifting motionless in midair, feet inches above ground. The figure’s face is hidden by the brown mess of hair but Riku knows by the telltale chain looped around his neck - a crown below his sternum.

“Sora.”

And the boy _glows_.

Riku stops in front Sora, taking in the sight of his sleeping state. It’s just like him to rest unknowing of the world that had forgotten him. Long lashes flutter slightly and Riku brings a hand to Sora’s cheek, which is alarmingly cold and he can’t help but to whisper again.

“Sora.”

This time, the lashes flutter upwards and Riku sees bleary blue.

“Riku.”

He lets out a relieved sigh, one he didn’t know that he was holding. Riku gently knocks his forehead against Sora’s, relishing the warmth that’s creeping back into his friend’s cheek.

“Come on dummy, Kairi’s waiting.”

\---

_Do you still hear me_   
_Do you still see me_   
_Do you still hear me_   
_Do you still see me_

**Author's Note:**

> this was due months ago.


End file.
